Your PH Passport Can Now Take You to 65 Countries Without a Visa

The Philippines is now the seventh most powerful country when it comes to passport ranking in Southeast Asia, according to the 2018 Henley Passport Index released on May 22 by Henley & Partners, a residence and citizenship planning firm headquartered in New Jersey. We've also climbed to a global ranking of 70 from 72 just last January. This comes after China and Taiwan gave us visa-free access, raising the places we can visit without a visa to 65. For a time, the number climbed to 66 until South Korea's visa-free access expired in April.

Thirty-day visa-free access to Hainan Island, the smallest and southernmost island province of China, started on May 1 for citizens from 59 countries, including the Philippines. It used to be just 15 days for 26 countries.

Taiwan's visa-free access for Filipinos started on November 1, 2017. Stay is limited to 14 days and is still on trial period that lasts until July 31, 2018.

Jeju in South Korea can be accessed without a visa if you fly direct to the island. However, since there are no available flights from Manila to Jeju Island, you have to transfer via Incheon Airportâand therefore, would be required a Korean visa. The country temporarily opened its borders for visa-free travel direct to Pyeongchang County from November 2017 to April 2018 for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

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Japan and Singapore rank as the world's most powerful passports. The Philippines is at 75th place along with Cuba, Cape Verde Islands, and Azerbaijan. Afghanistan ranks last with visa-free access to only 24 countries.

Here are the other countries you can visit visa-free with a Philippine passport: